Big Sur

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We decided to leave San Francisco at 6:30am this morning to avoid rush hour. If this was NOT rush hour, I would HATE to drive in the real thing! We took the Richmond bridge towards Oakland from Corte Madera to avoid driving directly through San Francisco but the 5 or 6 lanes of traffic grew increasingly packed with vehicles for two hours varying from 80 or 90 miles per hour down to sudden full stops until we were past San Jose. It was crazy with cars flying back and forth across all 6 lanes of traffic trying to find the fastest lane or to get into position for their exit. I cut off one car who swerved to narrowly avoid me hitting him when I had to switch lanes suddenly to avoid exiting too early. Luckily my error caused nothing but a lot of honking. I was actually starting to miss the little ribbon of cement of Hwy. 1 twisting along the shoreline.

After two hours of the crazy traffic we were back on the Shoreline Hwy. and through Castrovile which just happens to be the home of the World's Largest Artichoke, so of course I HAD to stop for a photo. Built in 1963 from concrete and rebar, this giant creation was the brainchild of Ray Bei, built as a part of a vegetable stand and restaurant complex along the main thoroughfare. It stands 20 feet tall and 12 feet across.

After Castroville we drove on past Pebble Beach, through Monterey and Carmel, and into Big Sur. Our first stop in Big Sur was at Pfeiffer Beach. This "public" beach is not easy to find. There is a small, unmarked road, perhaps half a mile before reaching the Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant that suddenly turns west off of the highway and looks like a driveway. It's actually almost narrower than a driveway and winds its way for two miles up and down through a dense Sycamore Canyon eventually reaching what is considered Big Sur's "best beach". It's a beautiful beach, or series of beaches actually with lots of big rocks and sea stacks and very seriously dangerous wave action; definitely not suitable for swimming. But it's a great area for beachcombing and suntanning. This beach, as well as the state park its in, was named after Julia Pfeiffer Burns, a Big Sur pioneer whose family lived near Pfeiffer Beach and homesteaded much of this isolated, rugged area.

After leaving the beach, it's was about a 20 minute drive to Nepenthe for lunch, one of the most popular stopping points along the big Sur coastline. This is a rustic bar and restaurant, mostly open air, offering good food and GREAT views with tables and counters perched at the edge of rocky cliffs about a thousand feet above the Pacific. Unfortunately the view was entirely obscured with fog today so no photos.

Our next stop was at the Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, about 14 miles south of the big Sur village. For $10 you can park in a lot on the east side of the road and follow a trail under the highway back to the coast. This short trail leads to a point above a beautiful turquoise-blue pool of water in a protected little cove with a waterfall coming down into it. This is the only major waterfall that plunges directly into the Pacific.

Onward down the road we eventually came to San Simeon at the south end of Big Sur, and Piedras Blancas; a beach area that is home to a rookery of 20,000 elephant seals. Hundreds of them were laying around on the beaches, some battling a bit but mostly just laying around, sweeping sand over their huge, bloated bodies. Sea lions were heavily hunted in the 18th and 19th centuries for the oil from their blubber until their numbers were reduced to less than 50! They were protected early in the 20th century and the development of kerosene and refined petroleum left them with no commercial value and their population has now grown back to about 175,000.

About four miles south of Piedras Blancas we reached Hearst Castle. You can see it perched on the hilltop above the highway as you drive by; and that's exactly what we did; drive by. We were running a little behind schedule and getting tired and actually not all that interested in seeing this.

We continued on to San Luis Obispo for the night. San Luis is home to Cal Poly with nearly 20,000 students (half the population of this town!) We decided this is as far south as we're driving on this trip. We've been on the road for two weeks now and that was our limit before turning around. So tomorrow it's off on "The Lost Highway" (the deserted 140 miles of Hwy 58 from San Luis Obispo to Bakersfield) then on to Barstow, CA for tomorrow night.

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Photos

World's Largest Artichoke
Castroville, CA